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New Delhi: Amid voting underway in 121 seats across 18 districts for the first phase of Bihar assembly elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alleged a ‘deliberate and malicious’ attempt to damage the electoral prospects of the Grand Alliance (RJD-Congress-Left alliance). The ‘baseless’ allegation received a swift response from the Election Commission of India (ECI), which dismissed the allegations as ‘frivolous and misleading’.
The Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD claimed that Grand Alliance strongholds were being ‘targeted’ by cutting power at polling stations where its supporters had gathered in large numbers to cast their votes.
RJD claimed in a post on Twitter: “Intermittent power cuts are being made at the strong booths of the grand alliance with the intention of slowing down the voting. Slow voting is being done deliberately.”
It also urged the ECI to take immediate cognizance of such “malicious intent and malpractice” and take prompt action.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar immediately dismissed RJD’s allegations as misleading and misleading.
It said polling is going on smoothly and uninterrupted across all polling stations in Bihar and all standard protocols are being followed to ensure that the polling process is fair, transparent and seamless.
Bihar CEC refuted RJD’s allegations, saying, “This allegation is completely baseless and misleading. There is no basis for such misleading propaganda.”
Meanwhile, various teams of the ECI are keeping a close watch on the voting from various control rooms set up to monitor the smooth conduct of voting.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and both the Election Commissioners are also monitoring the CCTVs installed at all the polling stations from the control room, which is a first in the electoral history.
Voting began at 7 am across all polling stations in the assembly constituencies and will decide the fate of 1,314 candidates, including 1,192 men and 122 women, for the first phase.
–IANS